Bitcoin Forum

Dear Fellow Solo Miners,

I am solo mining currently with about 61 TH/S....i am going through a solo mining pool (CKPOOL). 

Besides the fact that CKPOOL is trusted and well known and has been in business for a very long time, i would like to know IF IT IS POSSIBLE for other machines to get credit for finding a block that one of your machines actually found first?  Or could a solo mining pool operator steal from bitcoin miners?

Could there be a script which in a matter of milliseconds can detect when one of my machines has found a block, intercept my machines' communication with the CKPOOL server, and take credit for the block?

The thing is, I have invested a lot of money in mining machines and I just want to be aware of how a solo miner like myself using a solo mining pool could possibly be scammed.  Is there more or less risk associated with solo mining through a pool versus solo mining completely on my own using bitcoin core?

Think of it like someone who invests in a stock and would like to know what other risks there are besides market risk (i.e., what could a broker do to scam me? how could my stock assets be stolen from me due to lax security at the firm I use, and etc...)  I know every system has its flaws.  What flaws does the bitcoin mining system have (particularly when the bitcoin mining is done through a solo mining pool)?

How can i be sure that I will get credit for blocks my machines find?  How can I protect myself?

Have you heard of any schemes that have actually worked in taking a bitcoin miner's hard earned bitcoins without his/her permission?

It is already very difficult to find a block without the worry of others trying to steal from you; i would just like to know how to protect myself and what the security flaws might be.  What holes in security can hackers exploit to steal bitcoins that should rightfully belong to me?

Thank you.

You can't "redirect" a block; it is found at a particular address and can't be changed.

61 THs is certainly a fair bit of hardware but keep this in mind: It will still probably be a very low chance of 'winning' a block with it.

I run on CKpool (not solo, that is for my Lottery Sticks) currently with 208THs. Since Feb 2014 starting on EMC with 14GHs, unntil they shut down last year when I then pointed my farm exclusively at CKpool. Around 2/3 of the income was diectly fed into always growing the farm.

Blocks found to date by my machines: 5. Think the last of three I hit on CKpool was mid Jan and prev one before it was in Sept, 2016 when I was running around 160THs. Being in either the EMC or CK pools the whole time many many many BTC earned over the years. More than enough to pay for the equipment and other goodies. Even before the last halving I'm positive running Solo would *not* have paid the bills much less financed expansion/upgrades.

During that time many blocks hit *were* by folks running under your size. Thing is, ja they do not get the full prize but -- who know just when they might get a hit? At least being part of the pool they were earning BTC the whole time running what they have...

Looking at the most recent 3 or 4 heavy hitters on CKpool who each seem to hit a block or 2 every week give or take you need over 1PHs to stand a chance of regular hits. The fact that *they* are in a public pool has to tell ya something...

Ckpool is trustworthy and plenty of people will tell you this, honestly it's not worth the trouble of mining solo by yourself. IMO the fee is tiny and it's worth just pointing hash there instead of manually setting up everything you need just to solomine. Unless you're using some shady altcoin solomining pool, it's perfectly fine to solomine on pools. Most of the time they won't scam you.

Like CK said, there's no way to intercept a block.

You can look at the Solo CK Pool thread for all the history of the miners that have won blocks. I would understand if it was an unknown pool though.

You are throwing your money away by solo mining. Go back to PPS mining and actually make some money.

Sorry to say but ja -- for at least over a year now, 61THs just cannot be counted on to make money when ran Solo.

Of course another point to be made is um, since serious $$ is involved you should be running the gear as a business! At least in the US the cost of equipment is a deductible business expense along with electric and such. The IRS considers them pure and simple as computers/servers, don't care what they are for other than they are a part of a business. Yes all income is subject to tax but the writeoff's can more than balance than out.

edit: Just for a income reference point, my current average 205-208 THs has brought in BTC0.84 on CKpool from Feb 20 to the 23rd so um, Solo = NoNo at my size.

Throw your address in here to see the exact numbers: http://solochance.com/ but it looks like with 61TH you'll need a year for a block depending on chance